John
Sontag and Chris Evans were train robbers in the late 1800's. They
lived and hid in the foothills near Eshom Valley. Following is a
short account of their lives.

Christopher
Evans was born in Ottawa, Canada in 1847. He left home at an early
age and was found in Tulare County in 1874 when he married Molly Byrd
whose family owned a ranch 25 miles northeast of Visalia.

Although
their first born had died in infancy, a daughter, Eva, grew to be very
close to her father. A son, Elmer, also died at an early age, but two
additional daughters, Ynez and Winifred added to the joy of the young
couple.

Evans
had operated a steamboat on Owens Lake, worked in a mine in San Luis
Obispo County and pilot gang-plows and run harvesters. About 1887,
he met an unemployed railroad brakeman named John Sontag.

Born
John Contant on May 27, 1860. At a young age, John Sontag's father
died and his mother remarried a man named Sontag and John took his
stepfather's name. John's younger brother, George kept the original
family surname.

John
moved from Minnesota to California and went to work for the Southern
Pacific Railroad. In 1887, he was seriously injured while working
in Fresno coupling train cars. He claimed the SP dismissed him while
he was still injured and he became very bitter toward the railroad.
At this time, the Southern Pacific was despised by the people of the
San Joaquin Valley because of excessive freight rates and the bloody Mussel
Slough incident.

When
Evans met Sontag, he invited him to help work his farm. They mortgaged
Evan's property to lease a livery stable in Modesto. A year later,
a fire burned the stable and killed his horses, and Evans was back
to his Tulare farm. What
happened to Chris Evans Property?

Train
robberies soon began. Pixley, Goshen, Ceres, Collis (Kerman), and
Atila (Earlimart) were chosen sites and Sontag and Evans were given
the credit. Johns brother, George Contant was convicted of the Collis
robbery and he went to Folsom state prison. Evans and Sontag would
always deny they had robbed the trains, but had to remain in hiding
in the foothills near Eshom Valley. They were known to hide out in
Sampson's Flat and at Camp Manzanita and Fort Defiance.

While
getting supplies at the Evans farm, a lurking posseman shot their
horse. Evans and Sontag returned fire and killed Deputy Sheriff Beaver.

Evans
later said " We are entirely guiltless of the train robbery" and "we
never killed anyone except in self defense". Sontag had become engaged
to Evans daughter, Eva.

Lawmen
from Tulare and Fresno Counties, Pinkerton Agents, US Marshalls, railroad
detectives, bounty hunters and hired Indian Scouts were in constant
search for the two wanted men. Finally , at the Young Ranch, there
was a shoot-out that left Officer Wilson and bounty hunter McGinnis
dead. Sontag was shot in the right arm.

Reenactment
of the shoot-out at Youngs Cabin at Pine Ridge. Wilson and McGinnis
lay before Sontag and Evans near the cabin. -Annie Mitchell
collection

Sontag
and Evans had two know hideouts in the Eshom Valley area. Both places
were known by trusted locals who brought their mail and supplies. One,
known as Fort Defiance, is
in Dark Canyon to the north and the second, refered to as Camp
Manzanita, is on Red Hill.

On June
11, 1893, a posse lay in ambush at the Bacon cabon for the duo along
the trail near Stone Corral. They finally spotted them late in the
day as the two rested near a manure pile and opened fire. Several hundred
shots were exchanged until dark overtook them. Evans was hit in the
right eye, back and in both arms. Sontag had been hit several times,
including the forehead and chest. More
about Stone Corral

Knowing
that Sontag was close to death, Evans made a break for a friends home
eight miles away in Auckland. He had lost an eye and would have his
left arm amputated.

Not knowing
how badly Sontag was injured, the posse waited until morning when more
help would arrive. With the arrival of daylight, they cautiously approached
Sontag who was hidden in the straw and manure pile. Barely alive, he
was easily arrested and placed in a wagon for Visalia.

John
Sontag, as he is photographed in the manure and straw pile
before being loaded in a wagon for Visalia. The building in
the background is the abandoned "Bacon cabin" on
the patterson ranch where the posse waited for Evans and Sontag.
Members of the posse who captured Sontag were (L-R):
Visalian Samual Stingley, Deputy US Marshal and Fresno Countiy Sheriffs
Hi Rapelji, Rancher Luke Hal, Tulare County Deputy Sheriff George Witty,
Visalia City Marshal William English, Deputy US Marshal and private
detective Thomas Burns, US Marshal George Card, journalist JoP. Carroll
and journalist Harry Stuart.

Sontag lived
for another three weeks before he died of tetanus in Fresno
Buried in Fresno., this original wooden marker appears to indicate
1892 rather than 1893 as all records show.Photo courtesy of Forrest Cooper

With the
help of Ed Morrell, Evans
escaped from the Fresno County Jail but was recaptured and sentenced
to Folsom State Prison where Johns' brother, George was doing time.
While in prison, Evans wrote Eurasia, a theory for a socialist
state. He was pardoned in 1911 and was banished from California. He
finished his life in Oregon

George
Contant made an escaped attempt where three convicts were killed and
several others, including Contant, was wounded. He was pardoned fourteen
years later. His book, A Pardoned Lifer, came out in 1914 and
a movie of Sontag and Evans was made from the book.